Sivananda on ascetism

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QUESTION: Can asceticism lead to enlightenment?

 

 

ANSWER: Asceticism is really the austere life of sense-control

and mental concentration lived for the purpose of devotional

practices or spiritual meditations. True asceticism necessarily

includes a strict observance of the moral and ethical disciplines,

on the basis of which the higher practices are undertaken.

Asceticism is a means to enlightenment in as much as it

prepares the ground for meditation which leads to wisdom and

realization. Sometimes, asceticism is taken in its narrower

sense of bodily mortification alone. But this is a grave error and

this alone cannot lead to enlightenment without the calming of

the passions and discipline of the mind.